THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
As a measure against the shortage of skilled workers in Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze (SPD) wants to focus more on immigration.
“In the search for skilled workers, we should pay more attention to developing countries,” Schulze told the Funke Mediengruppe. Many of these countries face the challenge of creating enough jobs for their young, growing populations, she added.
At the same time, the Minister warned against creating competition for skilled workers on the international labour market. Germany should not do any harm to poorer countries that need their own skilled workers, she stressed.
In countries like India or Ghana, however, unemployment is so high that they see a benefit for themselves and their population in the migration of skilled workers.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, has welcomed the further recruitment of foreign specialists for the German labour market. Hospitals already employ many foreign staff, he told the Düsseldorf-based “Rheinische Post”.
At the same time, Gaß called for faster approvals for applicants by the German immigration authorities. He complained that clinics and employees sometimes have to wait months before they receive a work permit.
“What use are 500 new staff recruited by the Federal Minister of Labour in Brazil if there are then 16 different recognition procedures in which degrees are checked in small ways? German bureaucracy is paralysing the hospitals.”
Sola Jolaoso
